Keep On Together
by Aleine Skyfire
Summary: "I'm sorry. Rose, you deserve a better life. You deserve a fantastic life." In another timeline, the 9th Doctor did not have to regenerate after absorbing the Vortex... but he did try to talk Rose into leaving him. Fortunately for them both, he can't keep her away. Shippy AU and mild crossover.


**Author's Note:**

'Lo! Here we are, my first _Doctor Who_ fic. As I can't seem to get over the 9th Doctor's death since I watched it for the first time two nights ago, I'm doing this in a desperate attempt to heal.

**Disclaimer:** Disclaimers are _not_ fantastic. Everyone knows that if you _owned_ what you write fanfic about, _it wouldn't be fanfic_.

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==**Keep On Together**==

"_Can't you do something about it?"_

"_That's where we goin', Rose—to do something about it."_

"_What?"_

"_We have some friends who can help. In the twenty-second century. This is a little unusual for me—I'd be regenerating by now if I was any of my old selves."_

"_You're _still_ not making sense!"_

"_I'm sorry."_

"I'm sorry. Rose, you deserve a better life. You deserve a _fantastic_ life."

She was starting to cry—why wouldn't he accept that she wasn't going to leave him? Why did he keep trying to make her go back? _Why can't he __**see**__?_ "I already have one. With _you_. I don't want to go back."

"Rose, listen to me." His voice was so gentle, so resigned—it broke her heart more than desperation would have. "This was a one-time solution. I won't be able to do this again. And the next time that I die, I'll have to regenerate. I'll change. I'll still be me—I'll always be me—but I'll _change_. Do you really want to have to deal with that?"

"Yes! A million times, _yes_. Don't you see?" she pleaded. "I—you're my Doctor. You're. _My_. Doctor, an—and I can't… I c-can't…" She struggled to draw in deep breaths as the tears came full-force. "Don't make me go. Don't make me go ever again. I don't want to go back. I don't want to live the rest of my life without _you_."

The look on his face was so horribly familiar. _My God, what have I done?_ So much guilt—it was amazing he didn't drown in it. More than that, she had a nagging suspicion that he _would_ have drowned in it, had it not been for a seemingly insignificant meeting in a department store that was about to explode.

"What have I done to you?" he whispered raggedly.

She tried to smile past her tears. "You waltzed into my life an-an-and stole… my… heart is what you did." She let out a hiccupping sound that was equal parts a sob and a giggle. "Thanks a lot, Mr. Doctor, Sir."

He looked heartbroken. "Rose. I never meant for this to happen. I—"

In the past year (of her life if not of linear time), she had done things she was flat-out scared to do. She'd rescued the Doctor from the Nestene Consciousness, faced and talked down a Dalek, gone back to the future to rescue the Doctor again, even if she didn't really remember doing it. The Rose Tyler of a year or so ago would not have had the audacity to do what she did now.

She stepped forward and kissed him.

Fragments, mere fragments of memory, came back to her.

The sensation of feeling, of knowing, _everything_, of being able to disintegrate the entire Dalek fleet, of drowning, of her head burning her inside-out…

And she remembered his kiss.

He held her tightly, she held him tightly back, and they kissed now. _I love you, Doctor, my Doctor. I love you. I love you_.

He broke off abruptly, his blue eyes wide and terrified. "I can't…"

"Yes, you can." She took his hand, held it firmly. "You an' me—we'll keep on facing wha'ever the universe wants to throw at us… we'll keep on facing it _together_." She laughed then, a real laugh, accompanied by a full-blown grin. "Cos, I mean, you already know—you just can't keep me away."

He looked away, heaved a deep breath, turned those sad blue eyes on her again. "I'd warn you that you don't know what you're getting into." He shrugged. "Unfortunately, you do, sort of." He flashed her that I'm-hiding-behind-a-wall grin of his.

For now, she could work with that. "That's right. I do." She folded her arms and feigned a glare. "I'm just fantastic like that." She grinned teasingly.

He laughed—a real, wonderful laugh. "You are. You are _absolutely_ fantastic."

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==**Just the Beginning**==

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**Author's Note:**

It was just a week ago that I was introduced to _Doctor Who_ in the first place. I was started off with the 9th Doctor, and I haven't even seen his entire season yet. We skipped over a few episodes too many and watched the last episode waaay too soon. I knew what was going to happen, but it didn't help. I've been crying a river ever since, and I'm trying desperately to stop.

Thus, this AU. This is actually not a standalone one-shot—it's part of a planned crossover series, but it can stand on its own well enough. And… I just wanted to type out my heartbreak. No matter what anyone says or how good Ten and Eleven undoubtedly are, Nine will always be _my_ Doctor. He's got a place in my heart that can't be belittled or taken away.

Whoa, got off-track there. Okay. AU. This is part of a planned crossover series, tentatively titled _Fantastic, My Dear Holmes_. Yes, that Holmes. *grins* Only, this won't be Wholock. This will be Who_lmes_, as in Canon!Holmes (or headcanon!Holmes)… at least at first. Of course, the Doctor did say "twenty-second century" in the opening flashback. …yes, _Sherlock Holmes in the 22__nd__ Century_, as in, yeah, the Doctor gets rejuvenated with Sir Edward Hargreaves' technology. Pretty convenient, that…

I hope you enjoyed this, and I hope I did the Doctor and Rose justice.

_**Please review!**_


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